The Los Angeles Dodgers’ 11th inning offensive performance against the San Francisco Giants gave a taste of what they can do when everything is clicking for them.
Entering the inning with a 7-7 tie, the Dodgers scored seven runs, which included nearly everyone in the lineup making a contribution, to earn a 14-7 win. It marked their second-largest win in extra innings since 1901.
The Dodgers have had a lot of big offensive performances this year, but they’ve been somewhat inconsistent overall. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts believes that inning showed what the Dodgers are able to do when things are clicking for them, via Juan Toribio of MLB.com:
“When it’s right, it is suffocating,” said Dodgers manager Dave Roberts. “The talent is there. The performance hasn’t been consistently there. But when they’re performing the way they’re capable of, you know, it’s really special.”
Everyone in the Dodgers’ lineup, except for the platoon of Cavan Biggio and Kiké Hernández, recorded at least one hit during the game. Five of their players — Will Smith, Freddie Freeman, Jason Heyward, Miguel Rojas and Gavin Lux — had at least two hits.
In that 11th inning, Hernández started as the ghost runner on second before Ohtani was intentionally walked. Will Smith then came through with a two-run double.
Freeman followed with a double of his own to drive in the third run, and Teoscar Hernández singled to put runners at the corners. Chris Taylor, who pinch-ran earlier for Andy Pages, recorded an RBI single, and Jason Heyward drove in two more runs with an RBI-triple.
The inning was capped off with a sacrifice fly from Miguel Rojas before Lux grounded out and Kiké Hernández lined out to end the seven-run inning.
The Dodgers are, of course, not going to have tremendous offensive innings often, mainly because baseball is incredibly hard, but when things do go right for them, it’s hard to find a better group of hitters in MLB.
Dodgers offensive rankings
Overall, the Dodgers rank first in on-base percentage (.335), second in slugging percentage (.439), on-base plus slugging percentage (.774), doubles (158), RBI (411) and walks (321), third in home runs (112), hits (735) and runs scored (426), and fourth in MLB in batting average (.256).
The offense has been a strength of the club, even despite their inconsistent stretches that all teams go through.
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